Power supply worsened in Odisha despite huge investment: Study

Bhubaneswar: Despite Odisha attracting 12 percent share in the new investments in the country's power sector, energy supply in the state has worsened due to rise in deficit, industry body ASSOCHAM said on Monday.

"Odisha has attracted new investments worth about Rs four lakh crore of the total new investments worth over Rs 31 lakh crore attracted by the power sector from various public and private sources across India during 2004-05 and 2012-13," according to a study conducted by ASSOCHAM.

In attracting new investments in the power sector, Odisha ranks second after Gujarat.

Despite this achievement, condition of power supply in Odisha has worsened over the years as power deficit in the state had increased by about 2.5 percent during the course of 2004-05 and 2012-13, it said.

This is mainly due to high growth in power demand as compared to that in power availability, the study titled "State-wise analysis of power sector: Consumption, demand & investment" said.

Besides, another worrying aspect is that only 43 percent of households in Odisha have electricity facility available to them, it said.

Though, agriculture is the mainstay of the economy of Odisha, the state is lagging behind in farm infrastructure development as it is ranked 19th in terms of power consumption growth in agriculture sector, the study said.

In order to garner additional funds in power sector, the state government should lure private investment through a tax incentive scheme and facilitate quicker implementation of pending power projects, the ASSOCHAM study suggested.

Besides, efforts should also be made to promote power generation by tapping new and renewable energy sources like wind, hydro, bio-mass and solar.